Publications

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This report summarizes a meeting of geologists, marine sedimentologists, geophysicists, and seismologists that was held on November 18–19, 2010 at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. The overall goal of the meeting was to evaluate observations of turbidite deposits to provide constraints on the recurrence time and rupture extent of great Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ)...

The moment magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck offshore the Mentawai islands in western Indonesia on 25 October 2010 created a locally large tsunami that caused more than 400 human causalities. We identify this earthquake as a rare slow‐source tsunami earthquake based on: 1) disproportionately large tsunami waves; 2) excessive rupture duration near 125 s; 3) predominantly shallow, near...

The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most seismically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3,000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge)...

There have been 22 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded in the New Guinea region since 1900. The dominant earthquake mechanisms are thrust and strike slip, associated with the arc-continent collision and the relative motions between numerous local microplates. The largest earthquake in the region was a M8.2 shallow thrust fault event in the northern Papua province of Indonesia that killed 166...

This map shows details of the Australia plate and vicinity not presented in Tarr and others (2010). The boundary of the Australia plate includes all fundamental plate boundary components: mid-ocean ridges, subduction zones, arc-continent collisions, and large-offset transform faults. Along the southern edge of the plate the mid-ocean ridge separates the Australia and Antarctica plates...

The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has discovered bright soil deposits in its wheel tracks that previously have been confirmed to contain ferric sulfates and/or opaline silica. Repeated Pancam multispectral observations have been acquired at four of these deposits to monitor spectral and textural changes over time during exposure to Martian surface conditions. Previous studies suggested...

In response to the June 15, 2010 request from the Polish Geological Institute (PGI) to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for assistance and advice regarding real-time landslide monitoring, landslide specialists from the USGS Landslide Hazard Program visited PGI headquarters and field sites in September 2010. During our visit we became familiar with characteristics of landslides in the...

In support of a study to investigate the history of the Green Valley Fault, 13 cone penetration test soundings and 3 auger borings were made at the Mason Road site in Green Valley, Solano County, California. Three borings were made at or near two of the cone penetration test soundings. The soils are mostly clayey with a few sandy layers or lenses. Fine-grained soils range from low...

Four independent ground-motion simulation codes are used to model the strong ground motion for three earthquakes: 1994 Mw 6.7 Northridge, 1989 Mw 6.9 Loma Prieta, and 1999 Mw 7.5 Izmit. These 12 sets of synthetics are used to make estimates of the variability in ground-motion predictions. In addition, ground-motion predictions over a grid of sites are used to estimate parametric...

The Global Seismographic Network (GSN) (Figure 1) plays a key role in providing seismic data for global earthquake monitoring (e.g., Benz et al. 2005), earthquake science (e.g., Tsai et al. 2005), and studies of Earth structure (e.g., Dalton et al. 2008). One of the key GSN design goals is to "provide high fidelity digital recordings of all teleseismic ground motions (adequate to resolve...

Utah offers spectacular geologic features and valuable analog environments and processes for Mars studies. Horizontal strata of the Colorado Plateau are analogous to Mars because the overprint of plate tectonics is minimal, yet the effects of strong ground motion from earthquakes or impacts are preserved in the sedimentary record. The close proximity of analog environments and lack of...